For as many Citroen DS/ID cars as were built, you’d think the supply would dictate a fairly low price. However, there seems to be enough interest in these that a nice driver is around $10-20K. Anything lower than that usually gets you a backyard special, baked with love under the California sun. With some patience, though, you can find a driver with cosmetic needs – call it a driver project, a jalopy, or une guimbarde. Check out this 1961 Citroen ID19 for sale for $3500 in Berkeley, CA.
Looking for a rare bird among the world of Saabs? You don’t even need to look as far back as the 1970s 99 – you can find it right up through the late 1980s in a series 1 9000. Even on enthusiast sites like Saabnet, it’s hard to find many first-gen 9000s listed there. And those that are available for sale are either miserable $500 projects or high-mileage drivers. Alfa 164s, surely the less successful platform-mate in America, seem to survive in greater numbers than these. So it’s surprising to find a nice, cared-for example of the model, with turbo and manual transmission. Check out this 1989 Saab 9000 turbo for sale for $3000 in Seattle, WA.
As a used car, the E21 BMW 3-series has suffered from being neither fish nor fowl. It wasn’t as pure of a sports sedan as its famous predecessor, and hadn’t yet evolved into the significantly more successful E30 3-series. Part of this was by design at BMW, since they needed a more luxurious entry-level car for the evolving yuppie class to aspire to, and because they needed to accommodate modern safety standards. But part of it was by circumstance – the emissions and safety laws, which had already defaced the later square-light 2002, also had their way with the first 3-series. So what if the 2002 market has slipped from your grasp, but you’re not into the complexity of luxury bits required by moving further into the 1980s E30? Well, you could certainly do worse than buying an E21 that’s had some of the DOT and EPA mess undone. Check out this 1983 BMW 320is for sale for $3500 in Portland, OR.
Rusty But Trusty 